PLANT HYGIENE. 



79 



is the greater because in our educational institutions there is a strong 

 tendency to discontinue much of the means whereby a secure foundation 

 of pure, although elementary, science was laid prior to teaching applied 

 science. If our colleges are content to rest on the laurels won by a 

 more thorough system of instruction, the day is at hand when those 

 who go out from them will spread unsound information, and the result 

 will be more disappointed cultivators. 



I fain would believe that plant-breeding and selection will give the 

 cultivator many stocks immune to aH the more troublesome diseases, 

 as well as more suited in other respects to the exacting wants of man. 

 Much will be done, and doubtless worth the time spent : the successes 

 will be boomed from the housetops, the failures will usually be heard 

 within closed doors. To ensure sound progress the cultivator must 

 persistently investigate for himself. There are those who advise the 

 cultivator to leave experiments to the scientist. Without doubt many 

 problems require such highly technical knowledge that the average 

 gardener is quite unable to solve them, but many of the most important 

 can be better done by the practical cultivator. Especially is this so 

 in regard to economic culture as distinct from artistic. The experiment- 

 ing worker must often be willing to sow that others may reap, but thus 

 is the harvest won. He will need to take to heart the advice given by 

 Polonius : "Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice; take each 

 man's censure, but reserve thy judgment." 



Several years ago, in the E.H.S. Journal and elsewhere, I urged 

 the importance of. thoroughly pruning the top of young fruit trees, &c., 

 before planting. This recommendation was much ridiculed then. Now 

 hundreds of vigorous trees give ample evidence that the advice, originated 

 from scientific reasoning and verified by practical experiment, was 

 sound. To-day probably but few persons will criticize the suggestion 

 that a thoroughly well-tilled soil is by far the most important factor 

 in the growth of leguminous plants generally and late peas especially. 

 Late peas are very liable to mildew, which can be almost entirely 

 remedied by a thorough preparation of the soil. In the hope that some 

 may apply a phrase taken from an advertisement, " If you like my 

 pickles, try my sauce," a few more suggestions on practical cultivation 

 are now added. Already the advice has been given generally to keep 

 fresh stable manure and the like in the first spit of soil. I may add : 

 thoroughly aerate and get the soil into a good tilth to a considerable 

 depth, not merely the first two or tkree inches, as is so often un- 

 intentionally done. A careful examination of the soil from three 

 to fifteen inches beneath the surface where plants are doing badly 

 frequently shows a very rough state, with large interspaces and 

 immense clods — a state in which it is impossible for roots to ramify 

 properly, or moisture and its dissolved substances to diffuse. Work 

 up to a tilth, not down to a tilth "is an excellent dictum. The 

 manuring should be dependent upon what the soil already contains and 

 what is wanted. Tq supply water to plants in the garden, I prefer 

 subsoil irrigation when practicable, which it often is not. When surface 



